Bye forever!

When I wrote my first blog post in September, I was pretty nervous about how this year would go. After all, when you throw thirteen random high schoolers together, especially when they’re all as different as we are, will they all be able to get along and even become friends? I guess we’ve seen the answer to that. Duh. It couldn’t have been a better year.

Over this year, I’ve had so many wonderful, crazy experiences that I never would have had if I had stayed at Guilderland all year. Ghost-hunting at the Capitol, writing stories and discovering a love for photography, eating lunch at the top of the Hearst Tower in NYC- these are memories and lessons that I’ll take with me for the rest of my life. That’s way more valuable than anything I would have learned in any senior elective class.

And I’m not done creating things and having adventures, at the risk of sounding totally corny, this is the beginning for me. This summer, I’ll be doing a photo project where I do something new every day for the whole vacation. I’m going to be doing things like feeding ducks, seeing the view from the tallest building in Albany, writing a letter to a celebrity (Britney Spears, if you’re reading this, CALL ME), and making my friends vegan breakfast for dinner totally from scratch.

Then, in August, I’m going to The New School in downtown Manhattan. Which I’m still totally amazed just thinking about, since I’ve wanted to live in New York City since I was like, five. I’m going to take with me all of my memories of New Visions, the Times Union, all my friends in Albany, and even some good times from Guilderland. It’s weird; I’ve wanted to leave Albany for my entire life, but after this year, I’m feeling kind of sad about leaving.

I won’t forget all that my mentors have taught me. Paul Grondahl, Skip Dickstein, Michael Huber, and of course, Ms. Sheehan, have all taught me lessons that I’m going to take with me to college, lessons that are more than I could have learned in a classroom at school. Thank you so, so much!

As my last goodbye to all of my good friends in New Visions, here is the video I made for our graduation. The song is “Emblem of the World” by The Dirty Projectors, and I chose it because to me, it says that we can accomplish our huge goals, together. I know I said this is “bye forever!”, but I know I’m going to keep in touch with all of you, and someday, I’ll see you on TV or in the paper, doing what you’ve always wanted to.